1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electronic detonator.
2. Related Art
Electronic detonators can be interconnected, in a detonator system, by using electrical conductors. These conductors are used to establish the detonator system, to enable data and timing information to be loaded into the individual detonators and, ultimately, to transmit signals for firing the detonators. When the detonators are fired the electrical conductors are, for practical purposes, destroyed. The cost of the conductors, typically of copper, can be high and constitutes a significant part of the overall cost of a detonator system.
Alternative approaches have been used to establish detonator systems. For example, detonators can be interconnected using fibre optic cables. It is also possible to fire detonators using radio frequency signals. These techniques have, however, not been adopted on a large scale.
An electronic detonator has a significant favourable factor in that it can be programmed with a time delay which is executed in a highly reliable manner with a small error. It is desirable therefore to make use of electronic detonators but, as far as is practically possible, the use of electrical conductors between detonators should be reduced to a minimum.